High School Plans Get A Yes In Marengo, A No In Harvard

The two referendum proposals for new schools in McHenry County were strikingly similar except for the results. Marengo got a new high school; Harvard did not, at least not yet.

The two smallish communities--Harvard has 6,996 residents to Marengo's 5,534 in the latest census--each proposed $32 million schools to ease overcrowded classrooms. Both voting pools include in-town residents and rural farm voters. Both had promises of state aid to help pay for the projects.

"It's like we said, `Use it or lose it,'" said Marengo Community High School District 154 Supt. Jerry Trickett.

Voters in the Marengo area approved the referendum issue 2,121 to 1,232, according to McHenry County figures.

The school--to be built with $10 million in state funds--will handle as many as 1,200 students. The school now has 680 students.

The approval is expected to add roughly $275 to the tax bills of a typical $150,000 home, pushing taxes to the $1,100 range.

Part of the reason for the solid support--the margin surprised district officials--was that the two elementary school districts that feed the high school are filling up quickly.

Building a new high school and turning the old one over to the elementary districts to use, proponents argued, was a good way to handle the problem. Marengo-Union Elementary District 165 has already said it is interested in using the building, which will need to be upgraded. Riley Community District 18 has not said what it wants to do.

The Harvard proposal to build a $32 million high school using about $9 million in state money appeared to fall victim to worldwide economics and being the latest in a series of local requests for big spending in town. Voters rejected the idea by an unofficial 61 percent to 39 percent.

"With a new pool and a new library in town as well, we may have been running up against the wall here," said Harvard District 50 Supt. Randy Gross.

In 1998, voters approved a $2 million bond issue for a 24,000-square-foot library.

A year later they backed a $1.9 million measure to replace a 38-year-old swimming facility. Both the library and the pool are scheduled to open this year.

The district, with 2,250 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, would have been asking up to $300 more from a homeowner who pays just over $1,800 now.

Add to that an uncertain feeling around town caused by the layoffs of at least 2,500 workers at the Motorola plant a quarter-mile up Illinois Highway 31 from Harvard's downtown. City officials have downplayed the economic effect losing half of the employees at the plant would have locally, saying few live in town and those who commute spend little in town. But a steady stream of layoff news from the company has had an effect on people's attitude, school officials said.

"It's hard to tell what's going to happen out there at this rate," said school board President William Thompson, who won re-election Tuesday night.

Thompson, a retired farmer, said he thinks that farmers in the area voted against the proposal as a reaction to a down market for their goods.

Those feelings could not have been buoyed Wednesday when the U.S. Senate voted 51-49 to set aside $63.5 billion in the coming decade for farm support--less than half of the amount farmers wanted. Thompson estimates farmers are facing as tough an economy as they have in 20 years.